


Changing Butterfly

by BeeTeeDubya14



Series: Meus Magna Opera: The Papilio AU [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Abusive Parents, Akumatization fricks people up man, Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alya Césaire Redemption, Angry Alya Césaire, Bad Parent Tomoe Tsurugi, Bad Parenting, Bee Rose Lavillant, Blood and Violence, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Dragon Kagami Tsurugi | Ryuko, Episode: s03 Animaestro, Episode: s03 Boulangerix | Bakerix, Episode: s03 Caméléon | Chameleon Spoilers, Episode: s03 Chasseuse de Kwamis | Kwamibuster, Episode: s03 Chat Blanc, Episode: s03 Climatika 2 | Stormy Weather 2, Episode: s03 Desperada, Episode: s03 Félix, Episode: s03 Gamer 2.0, Episode: s03 Ikari Gozen, Episode: s03 La Marionnettiste 2 | The Puppeteer 2, Episode: s03 Mangeamour | Heart Hunter (Battle of the Miraculous Part 1), Episode: s03 Maître Noël | Christmaster, Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), Episode: s03 Miraculeur | Miraculer, Episode: s03 Oblivio, Episode: s03 Oni-Chan, Episode: s03 Papa-Garou | Weredad, Episode: s03 Poupeflekta | Reflekdoll, Episode: s03 Rebrousse–temps | Backwarder, Episode: s03 Silence | Silencer, Episode: s03 Startrain, Episode: s03 Trouble Fête | Party Crasher, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Fox Alya Césaire | Rena Rouge, Gay Panic, Gen, Horse Juleka Couffaine, Horse Max Kanté | Pegasus, Identity Reveal, Interlude, Interviews, Lila Rossi Bashing, M/M, Minor Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Monkey Lê Chiến Kim | Roi Singe, Moth Lila Rossi/Farfalla, Multi, Non-Graphic Violence, Papilio AU, Parallel Universes, Peacock Nathalie Sancoeur | Mayura, Pig Rose Lavillant | Princess Piggy, Platonic Lukanette, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Tom Dupain, Rabbit Alix Kubdel | Bunnyx, Redone AU, Snake Luka Couffaine | Viperion, Social Justice, Tiger Juleka Couffaine | Amurtemis, Turtle Nino Lahiffe | Carapace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:29:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 19,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21312691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeeTeeDubya14/pseuds/BeeTeeDubya14
Summary: This is a remake of my Papilio AU, which was & is my magnum opus!This is a "redesigned" version of it; the changes are small, but they're there!If you are fine with sort-of-spoilers, go ahead and read it!
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Chloé Bourgeois/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois/Sabrina Raincomprix, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tom Dupain, Master Fu/Marianne Lenoir, Max Kanté/Lê Chiến Kim, Sabine Cheng & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tom Dupain, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Series: Meus Magna Opera: The Papilio AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1422379
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38
Collections: Lila Anon Support Group





	1. Heroine & Heiress

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Tale of Papilio](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18423768) by [BeeTeeDubya14](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeeTeeDubya14/pseuds/BeeTeeDubya14). 

It had been quite a shock for Chloe Bourgeois to find an unconscious woman in her room. She looked to be in her mid-late 20s, but thanks to the bruises & other contusions peppered across her body, that was the least of Chloe’s worries at the moment. She managed to drag the unconscious body to a quiet place in the hotel with nobody noticing (it was about midnight); with all this Miraculous business going on, she might be more than some weird stalker and potentially even important or helpful to Ladybug & the other superheroes.

The lady was frantically looking around after waking up, and she inquired many things of Chloe when she laid eyes on the heiress. Chloe was trying to make an effort to do better as a person, but it was hard sometimes; this was hopefully worth it.

When she inquired into the mysterious woman’s name, she asked to go by the alias of Blatta. Chloe was almost certain she was someone important now; when she asked her, Blatta demanded she keep quiet about the truth.

She explained her powers as if Chloe knew nothing about them, as if it were before the existence of Miraculouses were revealed to the public. When the heiress told her that she knew about Miraculouses already, Blatta grew pensive & quiet. 

“Okay then, mademoiselle,” Blatta eventually uttered with a tone deadly serious, “do the aliases ‘Tortue Cerveau,’ ‘Mister Fortune’ & ‘Chaton Grise’ mean anything to you?”

The first name was spoken of with utter revulsion; the other two were referenced in a more morose manner. Chloe shook her head no as a response.

“Then Miss Bourgeois, I apologize for wasting your time; _ please _, keep this information secret, but if my guess is right, I’m from an alternate - if not parallel - universe.”

Chloe offered to introduce her to the local heroes, but Blatta seemed unsure. 

“What are you scared about?”

“What is the villain that brought them out like? Describe their Miraculous.”

At the name of Hawkmoth alone, Blatta quickly refused to transform.

“Unless you’re Hawkmoth or Mayura, there’s no problem.”

After getting over the shock of another evil wielder, Blatta explained.

“No, I’m not Hawkmoth. I now know it’s a parallel universe I came from. My Miraculous,” at this her voice went to a whisper, “is the Butterfly; it sounds like Hawkmoth is, well… the Moth!”

Chloe looked surprised, but explained that to her knowledge, the Miraculous was not the problem.

“It’s the stigma that lepidopterous lout has put upon Paris; no one will accept my powers, thinking I’m Hawkmoth and all.”

“Then go and fight in person!”

“_ Quid vis_?”

Ignoring the unfamiliar words, Chloe continued. “Earn the trust of Paris - that’s where you are, by the way - the hard way if you need to! I’ll back you in what ways I can, starting with getting you into our society. You don’t have any ID and all that, so…”

Blatta thanked Chloe. 

True to her word, Chloe talked to her dad about helping someone get in, hiding any important information as necessary. As usual, Andre was all too eager to do things for his daughter, and when a purple masked figure snuck into Chloe’s bedroom a few nights later, Chloe handed her the ID, asking Blatta to promise she would help fight. 

“Please, Miss Chloe,” the figure spoke, “call me Papilio.”


	2. Imitators & Introductions

Emma Berard - also known as Papilio - had seen a lot in the past week or so.

She’d been beaten half to death by  _ them _ , sent sprawling into a parallel universe, and as if it weren’t bad enough, there was still work to be done!

A thought occurred to her on one of the nights she spent sleeping on a rooftop. Mister Fortune & Chaton Blanche had summoned the portal that sent her here. Could the so-called Ladybug & Chat Noir do the same?

If so, it was another reason to get on their good side. They were also heroes, according to Chloe, so that was the primary reason.

Her time to introduce herself came with a mimicking “akuma” (or whatever the scoundrel Hawkmoth called his brainwashed minions; what a jerk!) called Chameleon. Blessed with the ability to sense inherent magic or potential to wield it in people, Papilio could sense something off about this akuma - other than the dark magic they emanated, anyway. The brainwashing magic was only there to serve as a conduit from the local supervillain, meaning this girl wasn’t actually brainwashed… 

Did that mean she was working with Hawkmoth?

Enraged, Papilio leapt from her hidden perch, slamming into the disguised deceiver with a flurry of strikes with her weapon, a jewel-hilted spear. Ladybug & Chat Noir could only stare in shock & gawk at the newcomer.

Readjusting the bowtie that served as her Miraculous’ hiding place, Papilio turned her head to the local heroes and gave them a confident nod before vaulting back to battle the disoriented villainess. It was a short time before Chameleon was pinned to the floor. She looked up to find the mysterious Hawkmoth lookalike pointing the spear to her neck. Checkmate. 

“Working with the supervillain, are you?” she snarled. “Surrender your powers and face your punishment, Chameleon!”

Thinking she was Hawkmoth, now Ladybug & Chat were just confused. Why was Hawkmoth a different person, how was- too many questions at once flooded their brains, resulting in them continuing to gawp stupidly.

“Oi, Spots!” the late arrival called out, catching their attention once more, “How do I take down this chump?”

Chat reacted faster. “Break the earring!” he shouted, and in fluid, painless motion, it was done. Ladybug gave Chat an “are you serious” stare before catching the akuma and fixing the city with the Miraculous Cure.

The newcomer watched it all, a look of awe on her face the whole time. Ladybug supposed it was her turn to be shocked into silence. Now it was time to confront this Hawkmoth lookalike.

A now-detransformed Lila tried to sneak away, only to freeze in place as the intruding woman held her in what appeared to be a telekinetic grip.

Ladybug didn’t like Lila that much, but she chucked her yoyo at the woman; akuma victims weren’t responsible for their actions. This woman might be responsible for causing Chameleon, for all the superheroine knew!

Finally turning to properly address the heroes, she gestured with her outstretched hand, magically dragging Lila in front of them.

“You should take her to the police,” the woman simply uttered, “the lass got akumatized willingly.”

That raised questions Ladybug didn’t have enough mindspace for right now. 

“Who in the world are you, and how would you know?”

“My name is Papilio, Miss Ladybug. One of my powers is the ability to sense inherent magic and magic capability; when this girl was Chameleon, I sensed brainwashing magic, but it only served as a conduit to Hawkmoth, meaning she wasn’t actually brainwashed.”

Chat looked angry at this revelation. Ladybug gave him a look, before turning back to Papilio.

“Alright then, Papilio, riddle me this: can you prove it? The police aren’t gonna imprison a teenager on the claims of a Hawkmoth lookalike alone.”

“Fair enough. I’ll get the truth out of her then-”

“You have to explain yourself first; you show up out of nowhere, show Lila here up in record time, then demand her arrest?”

“Pretty brash, ma’am.” added Chat Noir.

“Alright then, let me explain myself. I’m offering my  _ help _ here, I’m not Hawkmoth but his Miraculous’ counterpart from an- you know what, let’s not discuss this here.” 

Turning to Lila, Papilio snarled, “If I’m wrong, I apologize for handling you so roughly, but if I see you grab an akuma or something, we’re gonna have serious problems. Capiche?”

Lila nodded fearfully, before falling on her butt and promptly skedaddling off to who knows where.

After glaring at the serial liar as she left, Papilio summoned purple butterfly wings of pure energy on her back and flew off to another building for the sake of privacy. The two heroes followed her, determined to find the truth behind this mysterious Hawkmoth mimic.

Papilio’s story was partially fictitious; she was unsure as to whether telling magic users about the parallel universe thing would cause some destructive anomaly, so she lied and said she’d been busy for the time she hadn’t been fighting them for and had only recently moved to Paris in hopes of helping. 

What astonished her most when she heard their side of the story was that they’d only been fighting Hawkmoth for almost a year and a half. 

“YOU’VE BEEN FIGHTING THIS SCHMUCK FOR LESS THAN TWO YEARS? THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THAT FACT!”

“Like what?” Chat asked, innocently inquisitive.

“Y’all are child soldiers, to begin with. Then, there’s the fact that I’m being interrogated but I’ve got about SEVEN TIMES your experience!”

“Why do you think we’re child soldiers?” Ladybug said, in an attempt to deceive her.

“Ladybug, you and your furry friend here-”

“Hey!”

“Sorry. Anyways, it’s ‘cause neither of y’all can be a day over 18; don’t try and play me. I won’t tell a soul, don’t worry. Point is, whoever gave you your Miraculouses for this needs a slap to the face  _ at least _ …” 

Ladybug was angered at Papilio’s insults to the Guardian but decided against revealing anything about Fu to her.

“You know what? I’m training the both of you. If you’re gonna fight this Hawkmoth schmuck, I may as well ensure you do it right.”

“As long as we can trust you…” 

“Don’t you worry, I’ll work to make sure I’m deserving of it! Now then, let’s spar tonight, shall we?”

Papilio wasn’t kidding about being experienced; without unsheathing her weapon, she had pinned both heroes to the floor in a little over a minute total, even combining their individual and team-up times. It wasn’t long before they were running laps around the city. By the end of training, Ladybug & Chat felt they could trust Papilio. 

It was a nice alternative to fighting her, and if she was offering help, why not?


	3. Two Move Forward, One Moves Back

Three school weeks and a weekend after being threatened by Lila, Marinette decided enough was enough; even with the help of Adrien - who had been convinced to help her once he learned she’d done so - and _ Chloe _, of all people, there was no convincing her old friends that she was right. So after informing her new closest allies & necessary adults of her plan - and saying unnecessary “goodbyes” to the two rich kids she’d bonded strongly with in that short time - Marinette moved schools to the nearby Collège Rayne-Lachance. The plan was to see where things would go after the current school year was over, and Adrien & Chloe would work to disprove Lila’s lies in her absence, if not get the class to see reason.

It was there where Marinette found another friend - Kagami, who despite barely knowing Marinette had her back; Adrien had advised that particular collège for a reason, it seemed, and he’d told the fencer exactly what was going on. 

_ Clever boy, _ Marinette laughed to herself as she left Kagami’s side for her first class; Marinette would need to take a secondary language at Rayne-Lachance, so she was behind a bit in that way; unfortunately, she’d been stuck with Latin, as all the other language classes were filled to the brim with students.

Miss Emma Berard, her teacher in that class, was a bit eclectic, and she clearly was from elsewhere given her American accent - not that such was a problem - but what Marinette supposed she liked about the woman was that she was like Mme. Bustier in regards to her kindness. The woman solved disputes easily but let debates happen - although she didn’t let things get out of hand - when Marinette and her classmates tried to figure out a word that they weren’t entirely sure of. 

After that class, Marinette was asked to see her after school. Miss Berard assured her that there was no problem, but she merely wished to ensure everything was going alright with her. Marinette and her sat down, and Miss Berard explained that something seemed… troubled about the girl. The Latin teacher told her if there was anything she needed that she could be trusted to help, if the girl was okay with it. Marinette, thankful for the support, agreed.

Marinette hadn’t made it five steps outside the school when Backwarder attacked. Thankfully, she’d managed to transform away from all involved parties and joined the fight.

...or so she thought.

Watching from what had been her own transforming place, Papilio gaped as Ladybug obliviously swung off in pursuit of the time-reversing akuma. This got far more interesting… it seemed the young girl would need more help than she thought.

Refocusing, she summoned one of her own lepidopteran allies - a _ comes _ , she called one, whereas multiple were _ comites _ \- and sent it off in search of help.

The interest of the akuma found itself piqued in one Marlena Césaire, who had just finished work for the day and had been headed home when she’d been forced to hide from Backwarder. Embedding itself in one of her uniform’s buttons, Papilio began to speak to the woman.

“Are you okay, ma’am?”

“Who is this? Where are you?”

“Consider me like Hawkmoth… but a force for good instead of evil. I offer you the power to aid the heroes in battle, if you would like it.”

“I have to get home to my kids, Madame…?”

“Papilio, please. I’ll get you home faster if you’ll help me, and if you do, I will also take measures to ensure no harm comes to you or your kids. Now, then, would you be okay? You have the right to refuse, but me and the heroes would appreciate your help.”

“If I can trust you not to turn me into a supervillain, then yes.”

“You can. Let’s go… _ Archimagira _.”

Backwarder had been about to sword-tap a civilian when something caught the attention of her nose. The old woman turned around, only to have a bomb in the shape of a durian explode in her face. Dropping from the sky, the super-powered chef stuck the landing and charged Backwarder with her lance - the only non-food themed item in her arsenal, as the hilt was her transformed button.

Their blades clashed for a while, only pausing when Ladybug & Chat Noir arrived to help out. They looked impressed at the quality of Archimagira’s skill, pulling out food-themed weapons when Backwarder recoiled too much & countering with her own lance when necessary.

One impressively executed plan later, the akuma was restored to her true self - one Marianne Lenoir, who Ladybug had met the week before. What she warned them about was something that made Papilio’s blood run cold, but for more than the same reasons Ladybug & Chat Noir had.

“Hawkmoth knows the Guardian is here.”


	4. Interlude: Turtle-Neck Pointing

Marlena was detransformed from her powers almost immediately, and Papilio took off for the destination of the heroes. When she met them, Ladybug & her feline ally were unnerved at her appearance. 

Her eyes were panicked, her hair was windswept & frizzy, and she looked near-panting; all signs of someone with something urgent to say or do.

“Where is this so-called ‘Guardian’ that woman mentioned?” she snarled, her voice frenzied but carrying a hint of danger in them.

Ladybug explained what she could tell to Papilio of the Guardian, figuring it would be fine since she was a wielder; Chat Noir was overdue for a visit to Fu anyways. She led them quietly to the wielder in question’s massage parlor, a place which only served to make Papilio seem angrier. Thankfully, it was late by then, so the parlor was closed for the day.

Master Fu wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the “second Moth” he’d seen watching the battles on TV, but her weapon pointed to his neck would have made it on the list, had there been one.

“I know better than to trust you,  _ Aoyun _ ,” she spoke, her voice filled with distaste & potentially malicious intent, “you are no Guardian.”

“My name is not Aoyun, madame,” he calmly responded, earning a slight lowering of Papilio’s weapon, “and while I am not meant for this role, there is no one left.”  
Papilio just sighed after hearing this. She dubiously retracted her spear.

“There has been a lot of culture shock for me in the past few weeks, sir. The itular ‘Guardian’ I knew was a wicked man - noble goal or not - who had lost his right to the title and stolen many Miraculouses in hopes of a goal I imagined he has succeeded in by now. He looked much like you; albeit with a bit spikier hair. If I knew no better - which it appears I didn’t - I’d say you were one and the same.”

“How do you know this fake Guardian? Is he a threat to us as well?” Ladybug piped up, concerned at the prospect of a second threat, one that seemed to be stronger than Papilio.

“He and his brainwashed cohorts won’t be bothering us for a while, I’d wager, but he’ll come eventually. He has bigger and more threatening goals than it sounds like this Hawkmoth guy has.”

“What could be worse than the wish’s consequences?” Chat Noir inquired, having been updated on much of what Ladybug had learned on their way.

“Try the destruction of all Miraculouses.” Papilio said coldly, earning gasps from all parties involved. 

“Has this person succeeded?” Fu asked.

“Maybe. I can’t explain right now, though - it hurts too much to remember. I will tell you at some point, though. How about this? Either once we’ve beaten Hawkmoth or when/if the villain in question shows up - whichever happens first. Sound good?”

It became more and more clear to everyone else in the room that Papilio had a long tale - one deeper than they originally thought, but as much as they wanted the info, it sounded like it was beating her up pretty badly. The last thing they needed was another akumatized wielder, especially one stronger than Ladybug & Chat.

“Alright, but keep your promise, okay?” Chat spoke for the others.

“You’ve got my word.”

With that conversation finished, Ladybug brought up a need for new wielders for all other Miraculouses once Chat & Papilio had left. She explained to Fu about what had been going on for the previous three weeks, and the Guardian acquiesced, so long as the new wielders were good.

All four parties were feeling good about the future, so long as they kept on working towards it.


	5. Loud & Clear

The next time Papilio allied with the heroes was when Luka was akumatized into Silencer. To call how Bob Roth had attempted to steal Kitty Section’s song unjust would not be a fitting testament to how cruel & uncaring the thievery committed by him and his son had been. Papilio was updated on this by Ladybug on her communicator - the jewel on her spear served as an non-foggy crystal ball - and Ladybug could only watch as her face grew into one of righteous indignation. She sent off a  _ comes _ and cut the communication, worrying Ladybug for the repugnant record-seller’ safety. She couldn’t worry about that, though; she and Chat had to focus on Silencer, who had stolen her voice.

Fortunately, Papilio was more reliable and calm than they’d expected, as the comitized hero of the fight showed up before they confronted Silencer. She’d championed Marianne - who would be leaving the next day due to travel problems - into Recessim, who did not have the ability to reverse time on others but rather the ability to “move her own time,” which essentially meant she could teleport short distances and rewind herself a few seconds back on occasion, making it hard for Silencer to get a clear shot on the blade-wielding woman. Not that it would have helped much, then again - when your power is stealing voices and nothing else but enhanced physical capabilities, you won’t last long against people with weapons, never mind if one of them is an over-sized yo-yo.

Luka, Marianne & the city were returned to their original states, and Bob Roth, idiot that he was, started laughing, saying this changed nothing and that he’d still get away with stealing their song. Chat & Ladybug just snickered at this; they now saw what Papilio had been planning, and it seemed the music mogul had dug his own grave.

“What’s so funny? Why are you laughing?” the balding bandit inquired. 

From behind him, a voice silkily responded, “It’s because you’re on the air, hon. Smile for the cameras!”

Papilio had recorded the whole thing and broadcasted it on every TV she could legally get Paris to see. Bob stammered out excuses, but Papilio had already contacted the police; he & XY weren’t getting away with this unscathed. Ladybug & Chat Noir just fist-bumped as the dishonorable duo were led out in cuffs, and thanks to the rest of the studio’s more morally-sound workers, Kitty Section got to perform one of  _ their _ songs after all. Luka asked Marinette out when it was all said and done, and while she normally would have disagreed due to Adrien, she had begun to see him as a friend first; now that she’d gotten to know him better, she’d seen what his father had done to him, so he wasn’t in a good place to date right now; ergo she accepted Luka’s offer, though it didn’t mean they were dating or anything.

Was a  _ yet _ needed? Only time would tell.


	6. Talking & Tranquility

Marinette wasn’t entirely pleased to meet Rolland Dupain; she’d heard all about him and how he treated her  _ papa _ . Naturally, it unnerved her how when she learned about how Adrien was treated by  _ his _ father - not to mention how similar the two stories were. She had brought such up with Tom & Sabine, who had offered the blond a place to stay if things ever got too rough. Adrien was grateful, to say the least.

Either way, when Rolland was akumatized into Bakerix, it still was saddening; a traditionalist old fart he may be, but there is nothing anyone can do to make akumatizing them right, and he was her blood family (not that it mattered too much, of course).

Papilio had been a bit late that battle, but she’d shown up by means of a comitized Luka. Silentium couldn’t steal voices, but he could do anything without making so much as a sound; couple this with his dagger, and you had a  _ comes  _ who packed quite a punch!

The odd thing was that once it was all over and Papilio had depowered Luka, she dropped in to talk to Rolland; an action that led to a debate between the two.

When Rolland shouted that something was “not how it’s done,” Papilio merely pointed out that how things are done can be different than how things  _ were  _ done. Rolland spent a lot of his visit to Paris thinking about the Butterfly heroine’s words, and a few days before his eventual departure, he apologized to Tom for being wrong to him in his son’s youth. Tom forgave him, so long as he didn’t do it again, and this made Marinette think about the upcoming return to her old class. Would they have figured out that Lila was lying, or would they be still under her spell?

Ladybug had been pondering this on a rooftop when Papilio dropped by. She’d thought the younger superheroine being out meant something was going on, but Ladybug explained that sometimes she and/or Chat would explore Paris in the suit at night, writing it off as patrol. Papilio asked if she was welcome to do the same and join her, which Ladybug acquiesced. Ladybug began telling Papilio about Lila without naming anything about the liar, which Papilio was deeply upset by. 

“What, does she not care if you get akumatized?” Papilio had quipped in an angry tone. The question may not be serious, but it made Ladybug recall the events of Chameleon. If Lila was working for Hawkmoth, of course she’d cause trouble to people and get them in position for akumatization! 

Livid, Ladybug came clean (cleaner, really) about who the liar in question was, and this only made Papilio angrier. All they needed to do was catch her somehow, and they’d not only take Hawkmoth’s ally down but potentially learn something about him as well!

Chat Noir, who had joined in on their conversation at some point, pointed out that he had contacts who could ruin her standing with Gabriel Agreste, who had hired her as a model recently. Ladybug & Papilio seemed open to the idea, but Papilio also internally squinted at Chat’s revelation. How did he have contacts to Gabriel, who rarely made appearances outside of his home?

It wasn’t until she saw Adrien hanging out with Marinette a day or two later that it clicked.


	7. A Time To Pause & Reflekt

It took a lot to get Juleka angry. When she figured out Lila had lied to them and separated them from their everyday Ladybug, she became livid, and she warned Rose. Rose wasn’t sure what to believe, but a ridiculously small bit of research later - which everyone should have done - and the truth became evident to both girls. They felt terrible for the way they’d watched Marinette suffer and did nothing; they’d never participated in the bullying of her before she moved schools, but they _ had _ been bystanders.

They couldn’t warn their classmates, but they did tell Adrien and Chloe - who had been trying desperately to tell them the truth - that they’d figured Lila out. The yellow-haired duo were grateful to have more help, although Chloe couldn’t help admonishing them slightly for betraying Marinette. 

Not much later, Juleka became akumatized & amokized into Reflekta, unable to keep her guilt in, though Rose almost stopped it; they’d been on their way to Marinette’s place to apologize when the akuma & amok attacked the young girl.

Papilio was first on the battlefield, technically; school had gotten out, and her civilian identity had been at the bakery munching on an eclair when it happened; thankfully, she escaped unscathed and transformed, quickly sending out a _ comes _ to find an ally for Ladybug & Chat Noir.

It quickly found a place with Rolland, who would be leaving for his home the next day, and empowered him to become her next champion.

Papilio had just transformed him when her communicator alerted her to Mister Bug & Lady Noire’s appearance on the scene. Looking from her hiding place, she gaped at two different things that had changed since she found her hiding spot.

One was Mister Bug & Lady Noire’s swapped dynamic - Lady Noire, while not flirty or a punster, was still a bit more lax than Ladybug, and Mister Bug was much more goal-oriented than he’d been as Chat Noir (_ or Adrien, _ Papilio mused).

The second was Reflekdoll; Papilio was no betting woman, but were she, Papilio might have bet that she could have seen the amok from halfway across Paris.

Taking down Reflekta was easy in the long run, but the sheer size and durability of the Reflekdoll had been too much for the two heroes and their ally - who Papilio had dubbed _ Vetustus _ \- alone. Papilio decided to try something she hadn’t done yet.

Vetustus took the detransformed Juleka and left the battle for a safe place; once they were safe, he was detransformed, returning to the form of Rolland Dupain. Before that happened, though, Papilio had told him she’d seen how he had been attempting to change his former behavior and be better to his family, and that he was doing good work. Rolland smiled to himself, before sneaking over to the bakery to wait for the battle’s finish with his son and daughter-in-law.

Meanwhile, Papilio summoned her _ comites _in the form of wings - a trick she’d learned for the sake of mobility - and flew to the battle. The jewel on her spear began to glow purple, before a laser shot out of it, cutting through Reflekdoll’s amokized item like a bullet through a flimsy wooden target.

Yep - Papilio’s spear doubled as a laser rifle.

The amok & akuma tried to fly away, but Mister Bug’s yo-yo snatched them before they could get too far.

After everything - including the two Miraculous holders being reunited with their original kwami - was returned to normal, Juleka and Rose finally found Marinette once she’d returned to the bakery and apologized; Marinette forgave them, so long as they didn’t do it again.

Adrien & Chloe arrived not long after, and they started to plan Lila’s downfall… 


	8. The Protective Papa

The next akuma that showed up saddened all three of the main wielders.

Tom Dupain had been enraged at the treatment of his daughter by her classmates - some of them, anyway; he’d forgiven Rose & Juleka and was willing to forgive any of the others (excluding Lila) if they saw reason - and while it had died down since the teenage couple apologized, the anger was still there, and it was now the most prominent feeling for Hawkmoth’s akumas.

Weredad did not hesitate to snatch Marinette, keeping her from transforming, but Chat Noir, who had been on a run in the city and nearby the bakery when the plants erupted from it, was luckier for once. Papilio also had been in a good place to transform; she’d just finished grading papers for that week’s test when her phone displayed an akuma alert. Packing up for the day, she found a hiding place, transformed, and sought out someone to comitize.

It was not long before he found someone - Juleka Couffaine had recently left with an order from the bakery when things had started and was more than eager to help Papilio, seeing it as a chance to properly redeem herself in the eyes of her friend’s father. The _ comes _entered her bag, transforming her into Luculenta and giving her the ability to create and control light energy, forming it into any weapon she pleased.

Weredad had Chat bound with his vines when Luculenta arrived. She threw a flash-bang at his face; stunned by the bright light, he dropped Chat and staggered back a few steps. From there, they kept the akumatized father busy in battle until Ladybug finally made an entrance; dropping from the sky, she revealed that she’d found and snapped Weredad’s power source - one of the eglantine roses Marinette’s balcony had on it. How fitting, that… 

The night after everything was cleared up - Tom would be releasing that anger over Lila’s actions into the dough for the next morning of baking; plus, he fully forgave Juleka and Rose, who had come running as soon as she saw Luculenta - Papilio showed up to talk with Tom, a tradition she’d started since a recent rematch with Mr. Pigeon titled “Follow-Up Care.”

Chat Noir, who’d been out on patrol that night as well, had come with her, and the two spent a while helping Tom work out what was going on. Chat mentioned he’d been looking into Lila and was preparing to expose her should she go too far again, but ultimately wanted Marinette to make the decision of how the exposing was done, as it was the fashion designer that had been hurt by Lila. Chat said they’d show up Saturday (currently, it was Sunday) to discuss Lila’s downfall.


	9. Of Copycats, Fallen Foxes & Werewolves

Lila was not the only problem Chloe had been dealing with in her school life. 

While Sabrina hadn’t fully stuck with Chloe against Lila or vice versa, she had been at the uneasy midpoint between believing Lila and trusting Chloe, and it was this stress and indecision that led to her akumatization into Miraculer.

It was already bad enough that the Peafowl Miraculous had been put in use again, creating the second sentimonster in recent history - one Papilio jokingly dubbed the Big Sucker. This was after the fight happened, though, as the battle occurred during Papilio’s working hours and therefore wasn’t able to make it.

Miraculer had immediately targeted Chloe, so Marinette had scrambled for Fu’s shop. She’d been about to grab the Fox & Turtle when she sadly remembered that she no longer trusted Alya & Nino (though the latter had not bullied her too much, only when his girlfriend riled him up; it wasn’t right, that said, but it was nice when Marinette heard he seemed suspicious of Lila’s lies now). Deciding on new allies, she grabbed the Bee & Horse Miraculouses and headed off to find her allies.

Rose & Juleka had been hiding with Alya, and Ladybug took pleasure in watching her dumbfounded expression as she handed Juleka the Horse & Rose the Bee. It was a bit of a rash decision, but Marinette admittedly still trusted Alya enough to do it in front of her (not that she’d be learning anything else, but they didn’t have time). When Alya asked if she was getting the Fox after the newly empowered Cavalerie & Abeille Sucre had left, Ladybug told her no, as she’d seen the way Alya had treated poor Marinette and warned her that she didn’t like bullies before leaping off to begin the fight.

It only occurred to her after the fight that she should have warned her about Lila. 

Meanwhile, Papilio had chosen Tom to become her next _ comes _. He may not have had the vines like he had as Weredad, but Versipellis was still granted the physical boosts comitizing provided alongside a new power - plant manipulation!

When Mayura made a surprise appearance, she gave a confused look at Versipellis & the new two heroines but ultimately shrugged it off and dashed into the fight. Unfortunately for her, her fans did nothing to Versipellis, who was more than bulky enough to easily block her best strikes.

Eventually, a weakened Mayura retreated, leaving Miraculer behind to “hopefully” finish the job. She struck Versipellis with a fast, harsh blow that would have copied his powers… 

… but it didn’t. Miraculer tilted her head in utter befuddlement.

“Of course,” Chat realized it first, “Versipellis isn’t a Miraculous wielder, so there isn’t any Miraculous to copy!”

From her hiding perch watching the battle, Papilio grinned. This was going great!

Miraculer did have other powers, though, but when she summoned Cataclysm, Versipellis chucked a potted plant at the hand, effectively disintegrating it but taking away the Chat-copied ability. From there, it wasn’t long before Miraculer’s staff was broken and the city was returned to normal.

Sabrina and Chloe’s relationship bettered from then on, with Sabrina becoming a full ally against Lila and Chloe treating her better. Sabrina didn’t do the ex-brat’s homework anymore, but she did spend a lot of time helping Chloe with it (not that it mattered much; Chloe was actually smart and had only not done the homework in the past because Sabrina offered to and it was easier).

Not much later, the two started dating, and that was where Papilio found herself teasing the two on a visit to the hotel (Sabrina was staying the night) for Follow-Up Care. While Sabrina was in the shower, Chloe made a confession to Papilio before she left.

The heiress told Papilio about how she’d almost been akumatized that day, her willingness to wait for Ladybug’s call to arms prevailing over Hawkmoth’s offer of power. Papilio applauded her and told her that she was a good person, even if she had trouble being that way sometimes. 

“Old habits are hard to break, you know?”

Meanwhile, Nathalie Sancoeur was telling Gabriel about how “Weredad” was at the battle somehow.

“Interesting,” Gabriel said, “because I couldn’t sense another Miraculous at work other than the Ladybug, Black Cat, Horse & Bee. I trust your word, though - do you have any idea how this came to be?”

“No, sir, but I have two theories. One is that Nooroo is rebelling, but I doubt that. Two is that someone has found a way to replicate your powers and is fighting you.”

“We shall just have to see what comes next, then.” Gabriel mused, before pulling up the Ladyblog for any information. Nothing, as usual, other than stories about Lila. If the girl was so interesting to the Ladyblogger yet she was willingly akumatized, perhaps she would be a useful ally… 


	10. Unpleasant Memories

After Papilio’s first entrance was explained in a “press conference” the mayor hosted, the city had been only mildly distrustful of her. Most people were agreeable enough to be comitized, thankfully, but not many wanted to be in the first place; especially not those who had been akumas.

Alya wondered how she’d never gotten close to the woman; Papilio had made a decent few appearances in public outside of that first battle with Chameleon Marinette had told her about before she left.

Of course, Marinette had been responsible for Lila’s akumatization - or so Lila claimed. Alya had wondered if Lila was right about a decent few things, but a voice in her head had told her to trust the transfer student who had so quickly taken Marinette’s place.

The idea of Marinette being replaced had Alya thinking - was Marinette right all along? She brought it up with Nino that day, and when they researched it, the horror of them turning their backs on, betraying, practically  _ forgetting _ their Everyday Ladybug™ led to them both turning into Oblivio.

Papilio had not been there to see Ladybug & Chat Noir get hit, but she had chosen a Champion that had kept the fused akuma busy while Marinette & Adrien figured everything out. This time, it was one Sabrina Raincomprix - dubbed Ductrix, she was given the ability to copy the skills of those she saw on the streets and turn them into superpowers. After copying a firefighter, she gained aquakinesis, while copying her father gave her a pistol (that shot out energy blasts, not bullets; Papilio wasn’t dumb enough to trust her with an actual gun, even if she had given her superpowers).

By the time Ladybug & Chat arrived - and acting suspiciously lovey-dovey, in Papilio’s opinion - she’d almost gotten the arm cannon broken a few times, and the akuma was getting worn out. Thankfully, Oblivio was defeated swiftly from there, even with the amnesia Ladybug & Chat had acquired. Even more thankfully, their memories were restored with the Miraculous Cure - sadly, however, their new ones were “deleted,” meaning they had forgotten each other’s identities.

Alya & Nino apologized profoundly to Marinette after the heroes had taken her down, and Marinette forgave them partially; the journalist in training would be on thin ice, and she and Alya certainly weren’t  _ best  _ friends. Adrien & Nino had been better off, however; Nino had never participated in the bullying like Alya had, and the two had kept decently together, even if they had disagreed through all the debates Adrien & Chloe - and now Rose & Juleka - had started.

That night, Papilio gave Alya an interview.


	11. Interlude 2: A Live Butterfly!

“Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Ladyblog! Before we begin, I first of all want to apologize for the now-deleted video I posted of one Lila Rossi. I realized it could have put her in danger of Hawkmoth paying special attention to her, plus I learned she had been lying about many of the things she claimed to have done. I didn’t check my sources, and we all suffered because of it, and because of that, I’m so sorry.”

“Now, onto the big thing; Papilio offered to do an interview with me! She says she’ll be here in a little while, so I’m live-streaming the wait. I’m sure you’re all as excited as I am for her to get here!”

About 10 minutes later, Papilio arrived, looking a teeny bit frazzled. Alya was grinning an impossibly big grin when she landed on the balcony.

“Sorry I’m late, got caught up dealing with some mugging. Everything’s cool now - you ready to have a nice time?”

Alya nodded eagerly, and the two sat down. 

“First question - a lot of people think you’re older than Ladybug & Chat Noir, and some are theorizing you’re related to one of them somehow.”

“Well, I certainly hope I’m not related to either of those two. No offense meant, darlings, but things would be awkward. To explain that answer, let’s phrase it as ‘I just moved into town,’ and there are no relatives I know of here, so if I were to be related to either of them - or any of the other heroes, for that matter - I wouldn’t know about it! Ah, and I don’t know how old those two are, but if I’m not older by age, I’m older physically.”

“Interesting! Second question - why did you appear in battle once if your powers allow you to make heroes like Hawkmoth makes villains? A friend told me she’d seen you appear against an akuma I missed - they were called Chameleon, I think?”

“Ah, yes, that was Lila Rossi, the infamous liar of Collège Francoise-Dupont I was warned about. To all that know her, I’m letting you know now - that girl yarns more than a club of knitters. Don’t trust a lick of what she says. Her power was to duplicate herself into anyone she kissed, and if it helps my case in any way, the list of victims included Adrien Agreste.”

“I’d thought her tales were a bit too good to be true,” Alya admitted, “but I wasn’t entirely sure; hence why I did what I should have done right away and checked my sources. Now then, next question; do you have plans for how to deal with Hawkmoth?”

“Perhaps, but I shouldn’t tell it to the camera. If you’d like, I’ll substitute my opinion of him - in a kid-friendly way, of course.”

“Go ahead!”

Papilio stood from her chair and walked to the balcony; the moonlight made her seem more intimidating & powerful.

“Hawkmoth is a desperate, obsessed & above all else insane man; no sane person would do something like this, after all.”

“Are you sure he’s insane? That’s a pretty strong word.”  
“A writer who I think was named Rita Mae Brown or something like that once defined insanity as ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results;’ considering Hawkmoth has a known _modus operandi _of chucking his akuma at emotionally torn people each time, I’d safely say he’s insane or incredibly idiotic; considering how he acts, I’d potentially even wager he’s both.”

“...wow. That’s a pretty thoughtful take! I assume you’re heading out now?”

“Eh, I’ve got time for one last question, but make it quick and good.”

“Any messages for everyone, I guess?”

“Stay strong, y’all; I believe in the American motto of  _ e pluribus unum _ , or  _ from many, one _ ; if we work together and stay strong, the many evils of the world can’t harm us! Hold out for me and the Miraculous Squad just a bit more - you’ll see!”

“Is… is ‘Miraculous Squad’ an official thing?”

“Nope, but you have a good idea there. Well, then,” Papilio said, sauntering to the window, “ _ valete _ , Paris!”

Outstretching her arms, a swarm of  _ comites _ formed on her back, creating wings that took her off into the night sky. Awed, Alya watched them leave, before signing off and going to bed.


	12. A Ditty Of Despair

Hawkmoth’s next attack was prevented by Papilio.

He’d been aiming for Alya, who still felt really guilty about her actions towards Marinette (as well as Adrien, Chloe, and later Rose & Juleka), but being in the area (translation - both Francoise-DuPont & Rayne-Lachance were near each other), Papilio had time to transform and inform Ladybug. 

The spotted superheroine didn’t make it in time, but Papilio had; she merely whipped out the jeweled end of her spear and turned the akuma to ash. While Mr. Damocles was thankful, he also asked her to try not to fire the weapon unless dealing with an akumatized person - a request Papilio wasn’t really willing to acquiesce to but went along with despite it.

Hawkmoth, meanwhile, did not understand what just happened. In his vision, the akuma had almost reached Alya before it shut down like a TV with terrible antennae. 

Discombobulated & more than a bit angry, he tried again somewhere farther away and found success in akumatizing one Vivica Travieso. Desparada was a tough cookie, that was for sure. 

After Ladybug chose Adrien to become Aspik (despite Papilio’s nervous advising to do otherwise), the Butterfly wielder found herself unable to look for a _ comes _; she’d suddenly come down with a headache that increased slightly in severity each time Aspik used Second Chance.

Papilio stopped him around a thousand times in and told him to hit the showers. When Ladybug protested that the Snake was needed for this battle, a pained Papilio near-screamed “Pick someone else, dang it! All this time travel’s making my head go bonkers, so if you really need the Snake, I’m no good for this battle!”

The moment Aspik became Adrien, Papilio’s headache dissipated. What was even stranger is that when Ladybug chose Luka to become Viperion, the headache didn’t come back.

Many tries later, Viperion directed the three heroes towards victory against Desparada, only to have Mayura show up just as Ladybug had purified the maleficent moth.

“So you are the one who Hawkmoth cannot see?” Mayura murmured under her breath.

“Wait, he can’t see me? Confusing as it is, it _ does _make my job much easier!” Papilio laughed.

Mayura snarled - she hadn’t been intending for that to be heard- and charged her, only to nearly collapse halfway. 

Recovering, she managed to get out a “I’ll be back, other Hawkmoth.” and left the battlefield. Ladybug used her Miraculous Cure, and the three left for their jobs.

Later that night, Chat inquired as to Mayura’s cryptic statements. 

“What was _ that _supposed to mean?”

Similarly confused, Papilio replied, “Your guess is as good as mine, catboy.”

For now, they would have to wait until the next attack. 

“Oh, hold on,” Rena Rouge - who had been invited back to the team - spoke up out of the blue, “Papilio, your broadcast didn’t work on some of our classmates.”

“Really, now! Why in the world would that happen?”

“Lila has been turning some of our classmates against you, claiming you attacked her one night out of nowhere.”

“WHAT!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sort-of Spoilers: I will not be doing chapters representing Feast or Timetagger. I can't figure out a way to connect them into the story without it going too far; if I find one, however, I'll do it!


	13. In Which The Master Becomes The Student

Chat Noir was astonished to learn Rena Rouge was Alya, but he put that aside to help Papilio plan for a counterattack. The identity of Carapace - who was also brought along on patrol - also became clear to Chat, but he made no mention of that.

“I appreciate y’all sticking out for me, by the way.” Papilio said when the heroes had finished planning. 

“You’re part of the team, Papilio.” Ladybug responded nonchalantly, as if it were obvious. “An attack on one of us is an attack on us all.”

“Sorry to cut this short, dudes, but I need to get home; my little bro always needs wrangling on Christmas Day, and it’s getting around that time anyways.”

“Wow. I almost forgot it was Christmas.”

“Really?” Ladybug gasped, astonished. Then she came to a realization.

“Are you not Christian? There’s no problem with telling us; it’ll be too hard to round you down with just that.”

“...I grew up in a Jewish family, but I’m agnostic - kwamis non-counting. Never been Christian in my life.”

With that said, the 5 heroes departed - two going with Ladybug and two heading their individual ways.

Papilio’s sleep was interrupted that morning by the sound of Chris Master fighting Ladybug & Chat. Scrambling out of bed, she handled her morning business hurriedly and transformed. Thankfully, her job was on winter break like much of Paris, so she didn’t have anything to do today. 

She found champions in Alya & Nino, who due to Ladybug being kept too busy to leave Chat and grab their Miraculouses became redesigned versions of Rena Rouge & Carapace that Papilio dubbed the Simulacra - or Praestigia & Scutum respectively.

Jouet Noir & Joujoubug were outnumbered and ripped by Scutum’s spiked shield & Rena’s flute saber, and Chris Master was dragooned into giving up his item. 

Everyone enjoyed their second holidays - everyone except Hawkmoth, that is. Even Adrien managed to make it to a party that those who rebelled against Lila were holding.


	14. Training Sights

It was a well-known fact among his classmates that Max was good at math; ergo, Lila telling tales that were too good to be true + Marinette - who  _ hated  _ liars - not believing a word she said and attempting to call her out on it was equal to something that just didn’t add up.

Like Rose, Juleka, Alya & Nino before him, he questioned Adrien & Chloe before their yearly field trip and found the answer; Lila was lying. In hindsight, he probably could have Googled this, but he’d had schoolwork and the occasional akuma interruption to deal with.

Some other classes and schools had been invited on the field trip with them, including Kagami - a friend of Adrien’s - Luka - Juleka’s brother - & Vivica - a friend of Marinette made through her connection to Jagged Stone. Max mentally kicked himself again for forgetting about that.

And as if the world conspired to deny him and other good people nice things, the train they were riding began to lurch upwards like an airplane; soon it magically took off for who knows where. 

In his evil lair, Hawkmoth suddenly recalled his son was in that train.

“...oh, no.”

He shrugged it off quickly, however; he didn’t expect Adrien to do something as reckless as  _ fight Startrain _ . The boy was incredibly naive and stubborn, but he wasn’t that dumb. 

Back at the airborne train the akuma was controlling, Ladybug & Chat Noir had transformed in secret; bursting through the doors to the frightened passengers, they helped calm everyone down.

Once that was done, Alya inquired, “How did you get here?”  
Ladybug had been about to stammer out an excuse when Papilio’s voice calmly rang out. 

“I flew them up here after I saw the akuma headed for the train. No worries about this akuma, y’all; we’ll have this cleaned up lickety-split!”

Everyone filed to the back, but before Lila could leave, Papilio tapped her on the shoulder. Turning around, Lila found a poker-faced superheroine staring her down. 

“Look, hun, I get why you wanna lie; the kids here _are_ a bit gullible. But why spread that rumor I attacked you?”  
Lila quietly snarled out, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Papilio just raised an eyebrow. “So you  _ are  _ working for Hawkmoth after all. Thanks for the info, darling.”

Having made a deal with Gabriel Agreste (who she was pretty sure was Hawkmoth), Lila blanched.

“How did you know?!” she squeaked, before realizing she’d never actually confirmed that until now. Papilio’s neutral smile turned into a chilling grin.

“Now, I’m a merciful woman, so I’ll make you an offer. You have the right to refuse, just so you know, but you won’t like what happens if you do.”

Taking a deep breath, she continued, “Quit lying and confess the truth. Either cut ties with Hawkmoth or don’t advocate for him anymore - whatever works, although both is preferable. If you don’t know who he is, fine; if you do, tell me. If you do these things, we’ll be cool. If not…” 

Papilio at this point started walking towards the room where the passengers were.

“What will happen?” Lila angrily murmured.

Just before the doors shut between the two females, Papilio turned her head to the liar, smiled, and said, “If you wanna find out so bad, keep up the horrible work.” 

The door closed behind her, leaving the sausage-haired heel to ponder her next action.

* * *

After recruiting Max to become Pegasus, Ladybug & Chat cleaned up shop rather quickly, and once Papilio comitized Vivica into Symphoniaca, it was very much over; with a multitude of weapons such as drumstick clubs, tambourine shurikens & dart-loaded woodwinds, Startrain was in more than one sense brought back to Earth.

It didn’t occur to Marinette until they were almost at London (and after she’d woken up in Adrien’s lap, embarrassingly enough) that she didn’t know how Chat had actually gotten up there. Was Papilio’s excuse for her the truth for him, or was he already here?

At the thought of Chat being so close to her, Marinette shook her head and laughed quietly to herself. How many green-eyed blonds were there in Paris, anyways?

Her mind flashed  _ Adrien _ for a second, but she decided not to pursue that train of thought (pun intended) any further; secret identities needed to remain secret, after all.

Marinette didn’t get any more sleep until that night.


	15. Trained, Give Or Take

A while after the trip (and a few events partially including the return of Mr. Pigeon & a sentimonster called Feast, all of which Papilio had missed citing “work” as her excuse), Mendeleiev dropped a bombshell.

She’d seen the kwami of Ladybug & Chat Noir (_ Tiki & Plack _, if Papilio recalled correctly), and while she hadn’t figured out Ladybug & Chat’s identities, she had figured out they existed. She desired to study them, but when Max (who had been informed about Lila since his time as Pegasus) & others in the class pointed out the dangers of knowing too much about the kwami, Mendeleiev unfortunately ended up becoming Kwami Buster.

After Plagg nearly got sucked out of Chat Noir, the heroes realized they’d have to rely on a _ comes _ to finish the job. Papilio was all too willing to deliver, but a complication came up - not many people were feeling the proper emotions to become one at that moment.

Eventually, Papilio settled for the best she could find - Chris Lahiffe, who she convinced to become Dator. Situated in a red & white mech that sprayed out an flurry of ice that could freeze you in place, Dator gave Kwami Buster the works; when your only weapon was your body & a vacuum meant to suck up something you weren’t currently fighting, you had to suck it up and end up losing.

The moment that the akuma flew out to go capture it, Chat & Ladybug burst from their hiding spots; unfortunately, the two suddenly found their paths intercepted by Mayura. It ended out okay, though - as Chat and Mayura traded attacks, the latter dodging the attacks of both Chat and _ comes _, Ladybug managed to use their distraction to grab the akuma before it could get away.

Mayura had gotten much better since their last encounter, however, and she ended up breaking Dator’s item as the battle progressed - a snow globe Santa had left him after he became Chris Master.

From her distant hiding spot, Papilio snapped her fingers. Almost her entire flutter of _ comites _ swarmed the battlefield, not only protecting Chris from Mayura but taking him back home to the Lahiffes.

“Yet another reason I don’t like to work with children,” Papilio laughed to herself, before calling a remaining _ comes _ to her side, charging it with power and sending it out to go find a replacement of sorts.

Luckily for her, it was Mrs. Kanté’s day off; having nothing else to do (Max was out with Kim, and her wife was still at work), she was more than willing to answer the call. 

Mayura had just pinned Chat & Ladybug down when Exploratrix rammed into her, taking the form of a self-riding motorcycle that cycled (pun not intended) back into a more human form like a Transformer would. Mayura snarled in pain, before making her escape. 

The heroes wanted to give chase, but they settled for taking a disoriented Ms. Mendeleiev home and going to their own places.

Something weird occurred to Chat as he and Ladybug parted, however - the way she headed out was in the direction of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Adrien didn’t follow - he respected Ladybug’s rule, but that didn’t keep him from losing a bit of sleep over the possibility:

_ Was Ladybug Marinette? _


	16. Gamer Aid

It had been clear to her class the Monday after Kwami Buster that something was wrong with Ms. Mendeleiev. 

At first they hadn’t noticed anything - there was also the problem of things with Ms. Bustier being a pushover finally, _ finally _reaching a head when some officers tipped off by Marinette ended up revoking her teacher’s license & firing her - but when the normally draconian and stern science teacher walked in with incredibly disheveled hair and the most exhausted look anyone had seen on a face, everyone knew something was up. They had a review day when they were supposed to have a normal lecture, and after school got out the pro-Marinette part of the class (the rest of them currently had their family and friends discount revoked) went and bought her pastries from the bakery.

It was then that they learned what was going on; Dimitria Mendeleiev had taken her akumatization pretty hard, and Ms. Bustier - who to everyone seemed like one of the best teachers in the school before things went down - being fired was an unwelcome shock. 

They wanted to help desperately, but they knew there was nothing to be done but hope Ladybug & her allies would take down Hawkmoth soon. Max took it especially bad - he admired Ms. Mendeleiev, and he’d been hoping that she would test out the technology in a new game he and Markov had invented.

His disappointment made for another prime target, and Gamer made his return; as his game had different akumas as fighters, he gained the power to transform into any akuma he desired.

Papilio’s _ comes _ was first on the scene; he’d sensed Dimitria’s pain, and politely asked her consent in fighting Hawkmoth. Dimitria, who was enraged at what the supervillain had done to her mental state, agreed wholeheartedly.

Thanks to a multitude of different potions & a superpowered vacuum she used to aid her attacks’ accuracy, Physica had taken down a few akumas by the time Ladybug & Chat arrived, and together Gamer’s army was wiped out; by that time, however, Gamer had built up enough of his own personal power to get his robot mech to Level 3.

“Can you buy me time?” Physica said to Ladybug & Chat. “I think I can cut him down to size with the right potion.”

Ladybug & Chat nodded, before leaping off to distract Gamer. In the meantime, Physica harnessed power into her flasks.

She finished the chemical solution just in time; Gamer had pinned Ladybug to the ground and was about to take her earrings when the mech found itself shrinking down due to

It had been clear to her class the Monday after Kwami Buster that something was wrong with Ms. Mendeleiev. 

At first they hadn’t noticed anything - there was also the problem of things with Ms. Bustier being a pushover finally, _ finally _reaching a head when some officers tipped off by Marinette ended up revoking her teacher’s license & firing her - but when the normally draconian and stern science teacher walked in with incredibly disheveled hair and the most exhausted look anyone had seen on a face, everyone knew something was up. They had a review day when they were supposed to have a normal lecture, and after school got out the pro-Marinette part of the class (the rest of them currently had their family and friends discount revoked) went and bought her pastries from the bakery.

It was then that they learned what was going on; Dimitria Mendeleiev had taken her akumatization pretty hard, and Ms. Bustier - who to everyone seemed like one of the best teachers in the school before things went down - being fired was an unwelcome shock. 

They wanted to help desperately, but they knew there was nothing to be done but hope Ladybug & her allies would take down Hawkmoth soon. Max took it especially bad - he admired Ms. Mendeleiev, and he’d been hoping that she would test out the technology in a new game he and Markov had invented.

His disappointment made for another prime target, and Gamer made his return; as his game had different akumas as fighters, he gained the power to transform into any akuma he desired.

Papilio’s _ comes _ was first on the scene; he’d sensed Dimitria’s pain, and politely asked her consent in fighting Hawkmoth. Dimitria, who was enraged at what the supervillain had done to her mental state, agreed wholeheartedly.

Thanks to a multitude of different potions & a superpowered vacuum she used to aid her attacks’ accuracy, Physica had taken down a few akumas by the time Ladybug & Chat arrived, and together Gamer’s army was wiped out; by that time, however, Gamer had built up enough of his own personal power to get his robot mech to Level 3.

“Can you buy me time?” Physica said to Ladybug & Chat. “I think I can cut him down to size with the right potion.”

Ladybug & Chat nodded, before leaping off to distract Gamer. In the meantime, the _comes_ harnessed power into her flasks.

She finished the chemical solution just in time; Gamer had pinned Ladybug to the ground and was about to take her earrings when the mech found itself shrinking down due to Physica pouring out her flask for the mech. The pilot jumped out, of course, and Chat took the opportunity to snatch and break his visor mid-ejection.

When Mendeleiev got home that evening, she found something taped to her door. It was a small card advertising therapy for akuma victims, and someone had drawn a purple P on the corner. 

For the first time since her akumatization into Kwami Buster, Ms. Mendeleiev genuinely smiled.


	17. Storming Out

Never had Ladybug & Chat felt this powerless against an akuma.

Chloe admitted she had a bit of a crush on Marinette, but when Marinette turned her down, the heiress slipped up on her redemption work and accidentally got Aurore emotionally vulnerable enough to be akumatized into Stormy Weather again. The despair was so strong that she had the Earth hurtling towards the sun. 

To make matters worse, Papilio had stated she’d be out for most of that day, as the older superheroine had been gone since a few days ago (she had cited a job as her excuse). She’d missed an attack by a sentimonster replica of Ladybug, but her disappearance was notable only during the most recent two attacks.

Thankfully, the teacher’s conference had ended early on account of the akuma, so Emma transformed and made tracks for Paris. She sent out a _ comes _ the second she flew into Paris, one that took interest in one Max Kanté.

Papilio was exhausted from the fast trip, so she couldn’t help too much or give him too much power. She managed to get a transformation going (with his consent, of course), and soon, Ladybug & Chat found their energy restored by the newest of the _ comites _ \- Socius!

Socius stayed in a white and green UFO- thing up in the sky, far too high for Stormy Weather to easily reach, and he’d send down communications and boosts to their abilities. He couldn’t recharge their powers if they used them, but he could temporarily make them stronger, more durable and/or more agile & accurate in their attacks.

Stormy Weather 2.0 was defeated just in time to save the Earth from an early, fiery demise. Chloe apologized to Marinette and Aurore for the way she’d acted - she’d been in a bad mood since her and Sabrina’s relationship didn’t work out (though they were still friends) - and Marinette admitted she’d initially said no because while she’d been crushing on Adrien, she also liked Chloe and wanted to date both of them. She’d been looking for the right moment when Chloe had asked her out, and the rejection was just her hitting the panic button. 

Far later on, the last day of that school year would feature Marinette & Chloe asking Adrien to date both of them. Adrien would agree wholeheartedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guys guess the order of the remaining episodes?  
In no particular order, they are:  
Chat Blanc  
Punisher Trio  
Ikari Gozen  
Party Crasher  
Animaestro  
Heart Hunter/Miracle Queen  
Puppeteer  



	18. Naturally Livid

Lila was not pleased with the actions of Marinette and her friends, nor was she happy with Papilio and the other superheroes. How dare they try and expose her! She was a bit lucky that she still had sheep and had been able to lie her way out of the situation.

Despite all that, things were still coming up Lila, as she was still working for both Hawkmoth and Gabriel. Two different worlds, both of which were nearly hers to command! 

Two worlds, huh… that gave Lila an idea. 

* * *

Getting Kagami akumatized was a cinch; all she had to do was be (_justifiably_) mean and make threats like with Marinette, and an enraged Oni-Chan was wreaking havoc. It wasn’t like it was wrong to do this, anyways; people hear what they want to hear, so if Kagami was hearing the wrong things, she must just be jealous!

Her phone rang, suddenly, Hawkmoth’s number displayed to be the one on the other end. She quickly picked it up and found a hidden place (not hard to do when Oni-Chan was being a powerful plague on this stupid city). Hawkmoth ordered her to keep tabs on Adrien Agreste during this akuma attack; he was thinking that Chat Noir might actually be one and the same with him.

Express permission (she was pretty sure Hawkmoth was Gabriel, but she wasn’t interested in searching further) to spend more time with Adrien - whether he wanted or not, though he would soon enough, she was sure of it - was a dream come true, so she agreed. She couldn’t find him anywhere throughout Paris, so she concluded he was somewhere in the danger zone with Oni-Chan, as she wasn’t going there (the akuma, even if she worked for Hawkmoth now, was still looking for Lila, and that was not the kind of attention she wanted to be given).

She bumped into Aurore - who had been informed about Lila’s true nature - as she ran throughout Paris, not even noticing the white butterfly that showed up out of nowhere and being absorbed into the umbrella she always carried.

Aurore heard the voice of Papilio in her head speak to her. “Dearest weather girl,” she said, “I could use your help against this akuma. Would you mind allowing me to give you powers to aid Ladybug & Chat Noir?”

The weather girl nodded and murmured, “Can do.”

“Oh! I actually have another job for you afterwards I would like you to do for a little while. It won’t take too long, and I’ll get you where you need to go on time.”  
“What is it?”

“Spy on Lila Rossi once you’ve finished with the akuma. If Chat Noir is not fighting, start on that pronto!”

“I understand. What’s my alias, again?”

From her hiding spot, Papilio grinned.

“Let’s do this… _ Natura_.”

* * *

Chat had managed to escape Lila’s clutches with the excuse that he was sneaking to the mansion through a route that _most certainly _ was _not _crossing the akuma’s path. Lila, meanwhile, was following him when a strong gust of wind came from nowhere, blowing her off her feet and essentially making her trip and fall flat on her face. 

Assuming she’d tripped, she got up quickly, but Adrien and Chat were nowhere to be found. She did hear the sound of baton meeting blade far away, meaning Chat was most likely there already; if that was so, then he couldn’t be Adrien! 

She called Hawkmoth’s number and updated him on that, and once she’d been thanked for doing the research, she hung up and went on her merry way.

She didn’t notice Natura, a green and blue version of Stormy Weather with no wild makeup and a mask on her face instead, snickering to herself. Before Lila could notice her, however, the _ comes _ headed off to finish the battle with Oni-Chan.

Not long after, Kagami was returned to normal, and she apologized to Ladybug for getting caught up in this. Ladybug forgave her, of course, and told her to watch out for Lila next time; if someone as calm as her could get akumatized by her, Lila really was a threat.

Papilio took Aurore & Kagami home once everything was cleaned up. Kagami found her mother berating her for losing her cool once she arrived, something that didn’t lead to _ her _akumatization but did result in an akuma later on…


	19. Iustitia

_ THWOK! _

Kagami reeled back, dazedly moving her hand to the mark left by Tomoe. 

“It seems I was not strict enough with you, Kagami. Go to your room this instant, and be ready as usual for tomorrow.”

Shocked, Kagami obeyed, but when she returned to her room, she found Papilio waiting on her balcony, panting in a manner that could almost be seen as comical.

Not many people had ever met Papilio in person; other than the heroes, Papilio mostly kept to herself. However, after a tough day with Tomoe a few weeks prior, Papilio had sensed Kagami’s hurt and went to her to prevent an akuma. The two had bonded as they chatted, and eventually, Papilio showed up on good nights every so often. 

Papilio couldn’t help but gape at the mark that Tomoe’s cane had left on the daughter of its user.

“What in the world happened to you,  _ amica _ ?”

Before Kagami could excuse it, Papilio angrily said, “I know that’s not from fencing - y’all wear masks. So tell me - did your mama go too far?”

Kagami had only realized how bad a parent her mother was when she talked to Papilio about it. Adrien & Chloe - the latter of which she’d bonded with over Lila’s mendacious manure - turned out to be nothing more than echo chambers (which wasn’t bad, per se), as they were still having to deal with their neglectful guardians, but Papilio had gotten away from her parents and gotten help for it, and therefore noticed bad parenting easily. 

Now Papilio had heard stories of how tough Tomoe Tsurugi could be, but she had never expected the blind old bat to be as bad as she was. She’d been counseling Kagami in safe rebellion, as per the teenager’s request. 

One of the first pieces of advice Papilio had given her was “One of the best forms of revenge - or rebellion, in this case - is living well. You’re a teen, darling - make the most of the years while you got ‘em.”

Kagami had in turn skipped part of a formal meeting with her mother to go celebrate Friendship Day and participate in the treasure hunt - something Tomoe had forbidden her from doing. Kagami had been partnered with Marinette & another friend of Marinette’s named Luka, a blue-haired guitarist who Kagami had taken a bit of a shine to. Papilio, who had been overwatching the treasure hunt to prevent akumas from happening, had noticed this, and she may or may not have teased Kagami about it a bit.

Now Tomoe had gone too far.

Resolutely, Papilio made an offer to get Kagami somewhere safe and away from her mother. Tearing up slightly, Kagami agreed.

Once she’d packed up everything she wanted to keep, Papilio carried Kagami to her home. The superheroine gave Kagami her number as Papilio, stating that if Kagami needed help with anything that she would be willing. She flew off then, citing “a date with her bed” - it was very late at this point in time - and not long after, Emma Berard opened the door and took Kagami in, telling her that Papilio had informed her of what was going on. Kagami thanked her, still tearing up, and Emma let her cry into the teacher’s arms.

Tomoe had noticed nothing until the next day when she came in to see where the missing daughter was, and the resulting rage from reading the goodbye letter Kagami had left got her akumatized into Ikari Gozen, an enraged red centauress who searched to find and “punish” her “disobedient” daughter.

While Chat Noir & Ladybug kept Ikari Gozen fighting them, Papilio managed to sneak away and comitize Kagami into Rebellatrix, a leather-garbed young woman with spiked knuckle-dusters and a energy pistol (not an actual gun with bullets). 

As the battle progressed, Rebellatrix was at one point defeated, her powers taken. With a call of “Kaleidoscope!” Papilio summoned her  _ comites _ to get Kagami to safety before detransforming. The swarm arrived just in time to save Kagami from becoming a daughterly pancake. Once she’d fed her kwami Oroono, she transformed once again and called a number on her communicator.

Papilio had four numbers on her communicator when transformed; Ladybug’s Chat’s, Kagami’s, and the police (though the numbers of any allies Ladybug picked out would be added, of course). Papilio worked with them occasionally to stop some cases - mostly bad parents, abusive significant others and the like, but she stopped other acts of crime as well; they just weren’t directly with the police. Roger picked up the phone and was given the details and plan for dealing with Tomoe after the akuma. 

Sensing how things weren’t looking good for them, Ladybug made a quick escape to Fu’s and brought the Dragon Miraculous to Kagami. When Kagami said she didn’t deserve it as she failed as a Champion, Ladybug called it nonsense, offering her the magical choker as a second chance of sorts.

Ryuuko had much better luck than Rebellatrix did, and once Tomoe and Paris were returned to normal, the pernicious progenitor was put into the penitentiary system and lost custody of Kagami, a right which was given to the system until one Madame Berard adopted the young woman.

Kagami also got a lot of her inheritance from the dealings of the court - with Papilio supporting Tomoe’s arrest, nearly all of Paris was crawling over itself to put the horrible woman behind bars. Most of it went into her future funds, but a chunk of it was given to Emma to help fund her caretaking. They weren’t rich, certainly not as rich as Tomoe had been, but Kagami found herself a lot happier than she had been with her blood mother.


	20. Interlude 3: Bunnyx At Night

“Psst. Hey. Wake up!”

Emma’s eyes snapped open to find an unfamiliar woman in her bedroom. Before Emma could open her mouth, the intruder stepped out of the shadows of the dark room.

“_How did you get the Rabbit Miraculous? _” she hissed.

“I’m Bunnyx. In a few timelines, I wield the Rabbit Miraculous and travel through time. You, though… you’re a bit of an anomaly, Papilio.”

_ So she knows my identity_.

“And what do you mean by anomaly?” Emma asked.

“In all the timelines I’ve traveled, this is the only one with you in it. This may be the ideal timeline, and I wanted to inform you of your potential future.”

Emma and a now-awakened Oroono nodded to indicate that they were listening.

“In the other timelines, someone takes Hawkmoth’s Miraculous for their own selfish gain. She calls herself Farfalla…” 

“Wait, isn’t Farfalla Italian for Moth or something?”

“...I don’t know. Why?”

“It sounds like Lila - is she in your universe? - is your new Hawkmoth. Who was the old one?”

The two older superheroines compared notes for a while, both gaining useful information. Emma learned about who her timeline’s Hawkmoth may very well be, and Bunnyx got help in figuring out the other timelines’ new villainess. Apparently, Mayura had lost her Miraculous upon the switching of hands, so they had the formerly broken Miraculous back.

“Is mine still broken?” Emma wondered.

“What was the last akuma you faced?”

“Ikari Gozen. Her former daughter is sleeping a few rooms over, so be quiet. Why do you ask?”

“It’s still broken, then. It doesn’t get fixed until after… actually, no spoilers.”

“Right, timelines.”

Before Bunnyx left through a time portal, she informed Emma of something important, “Okay, so there’s one last thing I've deduced from you being the anomaly - you’re not from our set of timelines, and you’re most likely from a parallel universe or dimension or whatever.”

Emma just morosely looked away.

“... you hit it right on the head.”

“That means there is an anomaly in your universe as well, you know! IF you’re an anomaly here, and you wield a lepidopteran Miraculous, then whoever you don’t remember an equivalent to in your universe must be Hawkmoth!”

Emma nodded; she’d been running from her past in the new universe/dimension/whatever it was, admittedly, but it was time to face the truth. After Bunnyx left, she made a calculation of all those she knew. Marinette and Adrien had Bridgette and Felix (god, she missed them), M. Fu had _ that bastard_, the friends of Bridgette & Felix were Marinette’s old class, Gabriel had… 

...huh. Who _ did _Gabriel have? Felix had lost his parents long ago and lived in an orphanage, so there wasn’t a living Gabriel equivalent. That most likely meant… 

_ Oh, no. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided Bunnyx deserved some time in the limelight.  
I also spoiled a lot here. Don't skip the interludes, y'all!
> 
> Anyway, there are 9 planned (emphasis on PLANNED; there might be more) chapters left! Not all of them feature akumas, however...


	21. Waxing Eloquent

Emma decided the next day that some spy-work was necessary to defeat Gabriel. She’d brought up the thought in the past, but not only did Chat vehemently refuse to believe it but Ladybug informed him of their fight against the Collector.

Looking back, Papilio could have sent out a  _ comes _ , called it back, detransformed, and comitized herself, and nobody would be any more likely to know the truth. She still could, now that she was thinking about it.

She’d been doing some research on the Louvre’s new Roman history exhibit (she was considering giving her classes a chance at extra credit before finals came around; the semester was ending soon, and Marinette would be off to her old school come the next one) when her phone went off, alerting her about an akuma attack at the Musée Grévin.

Having just finished planning out her extra credit assignment for the upcoming school week, she left the museum and transformed in a hiding place, sending out a  _ comes _ .

The superpowered butterfly found a place with Wayhem Leblanc, who had evacuated the museum when the  _ comes _ arrived in his new glasses. Wayhem told Papilio about the akuma: a 5-year old girl (Papilio seethed upon hearing this) named Manon who had apparently been akumatized before (Papilio’s seething became even more intense) had once again become the Puppeteer, and was now bringing the wax statues of the museum's Miraculous exhibit to life - complete with powers for those who had them. 

Thanking Wayhem for the information, Papilio offered the lad a chance to become the next superhero - a task Wayhem zealously accepted. It was hard, thinking up a power for Wayhem when he had not been akumatized before and had no supervillain form to be based off of, but Papilio managed to come up with the power of predictability, making Wayhem able to have a good chance of predicting his enemies’ moves. She’d basically given him Spider-Sense, albeit without the extra reaction time.

The newly comitized Haruspex got to work right away, freeing trapped civilians and fighting animated statues of former foes and famous figures. Papilio had a pretty good idea of what it was like to fight older akumas such as Guitar Villain, Rogercop, Mime, Evillustrator, Princess Fragrance & Reflekta. The last three especially gave her the creeps, as she’d bonded with them (Nathaniel had been brought to his senses by his comic partner Marc, and the story of Juleka & Rose has already been stated) in the past; she hoped she’d never have to fight any more akumas of those she’d befriended.

Ladybug & Chat joined Haruspex soon, and it wasn’t long after that they found Puppeteer, who had holed up in the inner parts of the museum with statues of many Miraculous wielders - Hawkmoth included - there to protect her.

It didn’t matter - not one of them landed a hit on Haruspex without attempting to overwhelm him via numbers, and even then they couldn’t focus on him and not create blind spots to get to Puppeteer. In due time, they slipped up and Chat managed to graze Puppeteer’s wand with Cataclysm (something Papilio usually advised against using on akuma items), saving the day once again.

It didn’t occur to Papilio to let the other heroes know of her theory on Gabriel until they were long past that point of meeting.


	22. Movie Magic: Triple Feature!

Recently, Papilio had been speaking with Fu, who had in his decryption of a Miraculous grimoire found some interesting new tricks for her to use.

One of the special tricks she’d learned was the ability to have multiple  _ comites _ ready to go, and she was working on learning to manage multiple different Champions at once.

This came in handy against Animaestro, an akumatized film director who weirdly enough was incredibly popular among Nice Guys™.

Alya, Juleka & Rose - alongside Alix, who alongside Max had mysteriously switched to Marinette’s side recently (although the young boy had joined after Startrain, whereas Alix had come with apologies for her behavior and righteous indignation for Lila in between Bunnyx’s visit and Puppeteer 2.0) - had each been comitized into the Ultrices; Papilio, who’d been on a busy schedule, had neglected to name them individually, though the Ladyblog would later dub them Prima, Secunda & Tertia respectively. They were modeled after their akumatized forms but recolored, and Papilio apologized later on for her “sloppy job” - they forgave her, of course, as at the end of the day they weren’t exactly being comitized for sheer aesthetic, now were they?

None of them helped that much given Animaestro’s near-immunity unless being watched, but Tertia’s healing abilities kept Ladybug and Chat going long enough to see the battle through.

Papilio had been about to detransform when she overheard the voice of one Gabriel Agreste mumbling, “Next time those heroes will  _ watch _ and learn!”

She wanted to jump him and snatch his Miraculous then and there, but a thought hit her then: she didn’t have good proof Gabriel was Hawkmoth, and given Hawkmoth’s craftiness and creativity, he could most likely find his way out of the situation. 

With this in mind, Papilio summoned five  _ comites _ , but instead of giving them the power-up to make a  _ comes _ , she had them sneak into the mansion and give her data on what they found. It would take a few days for them to collect enough evidence, so now Papilio just had to play the waiting game.

So focused was she on waiting that she forgot yet again to tell Ladybug and Chat what was going on.


	23. (Disco) Fever Pitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Make sure you read this fic over starting 3/16/20 - I had to make some edits for plot contingency...

Marinette had been thinking a lot about Adrien & Chat Noir recently. She couldn’t resist thinking of them being the same person. 

Adrien had been thinking a lot about Marinette and Ladybug recently. He couldn’t resist thinking of them being the same person. 

Marinette sort of hoped Chat was Adrien; it may have been a bit embarrassing, realizing that she’d rejected him for himself all those times, but once she moved past that, she would have been elated to have them be the same person - it meant they had loved each other all along! Yeah, she was dating Chloe, but they both were considering making a trio with him.

Adrien, in a sense of the words, hoped it was someone else. Not to knock Marinette, but if they were the same person, it just put him even further under her league - he was never this lucky, after all, and she was bound to reject him if they found out the truth; after all, she always was so unsure around him! That and she was dating Chloe.

Marinette wanted to know the truth now, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up in case it was some other blond, green-eyed kid her age. Adrien had a cousin coming over soon, after all; maybe it was him!

She had meant to try and garner information from him during the boys’ hangout she had for some reason been invited to, but the interruption of Party Crasher ruined everything. Wayhem’s akumatized form sure did live up to his name, didn’t he?

Chat Noir and Ladybug were so busy fighting the akuma that Master Fu sent three more heroes their way. Carapace, Pegasus, & Viperion were each taken down by Party Crasher, and not only Ladybug & Chat but another hasty akuma - a regrettably chosen Manon became Vivida - followed. 

From her perch overlooking the scene, Papilio grimaced. Well-hidden from the sight of Party Crasher, she raised the jeweled side of her weapon, taking aim at the mini-helicopter. 

Party Crasher had been looking in Papilio’s direction when King Monkey distracted him with a well-timed Uproar. While Papilio shot the Miraculous-containing chopper down - freeing everyone from Party Crasher’s clutches - King Monkey basically overrode his predicting powers.

From there, a Lucky Charm, good dodging & some sick dance moves were all that was needed to finish the job.

Papilio smiled and watched the purification of Paris before leaving; Miss Berard had papers to grade.

That night, as she fell asleep, she woke up in a portal-esque dream world. This wasn’t new; she’d been here before after all, but not since… _ those days_.

A feminine voice called out, “Thank you for all your hard work - I have more information, but my power is too limited to reveal it right now. Just thought I should let you know.”

“I understand… _ Eilemi_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've read some of my works here, you might be able to figure out who Eilemi is...


	24. Three Villains, Two Counseling Sessions, One Champion

Lila, in case her previous behaviors didn’t make it clear, was not dumb.

One day, she confronted Marinette alone, telling her to stop trying to expose her or she would use her connections in the fashion industry to prevent Marinette from having a chance of a career.

Unfortunately for Lila, Marinette’s allies had seen her walk into the bathroom and overheard the whole thing. The ensuing rage they experienced led to them going to Gabriel, who disregarded their warnings; as a result, they became the Trio of Punishers.

Ladybug would have been there sooner, but she had been called over by Adrien to talk about something before she found out. When he attempted to force himself on her, she realized this was his cousin Felix and decked him good.

As she swung away after getting the akuma warning, Felix slowly rose to his feet and found another superheroine staring him down. Papilio had seen the whole thing, and while the woman wasn’t pleased, she’d also looked up to him after hearing he was coming to Paris from Chat Noir. This meant she’d heard about his father’s death, and instead of chewing him out further, she talked to him about it. It culminated with him crying into her arms on a nearby rooftop.

Felix had some issues he  _ really _ needed to work out.

Papilio would take him back and advise him to talk to his mom about it, and not long after he found himself in grief therapy; in the future, he’d become a grief counselor who used his family contacts for good.

But before all that happened, Papilio had left to go deal with the three akumas. She sent out another  _ comes _ , and it found a place in Thomas Astruc, who was starting to think about not only why his film resonated with Nice Guys™ but about the true reason his girlfriend had broken up with him about half a year ago.

As with Felix, Papilio gave Thomas some advice before she offered to comitize him. She told him, “Our past is our history, and our futures are a mystery; they’re important to us, but what matters  _ most _ is the present. Yeah, you’ve done some shitty stuff; what are you gonna do now that you know better?”

Thomas took her advice to heart, and his movies would drastically improve in morality after that; even if he did lose his Nice Guy™ audience, he was much happier for it, and in due time he got a new girlfriend, too.

In the present, however, he was comitized into Narrator, who in comparison to Animaestro exchanged his weakness of not being able to move once nobody was watching him for weaker transformations.

Lady WiFi, Reflekta and Princess Fragrance had Ladybug & Chat Noir’s backs against the wall when a miniature kaiju-esque monster dropped in on them, tail-smashing them to the wall and breaking their items in one fell swoop. As Ladybug took the girls home, they informed them of Gabriel’s willingness to ruin their friend Marinette’s potential career. 

Ladybug knew something was up with Gabriel. Even if he wasn’t Hawkmoth, something was wrong with his behavior… perhaps it needed investigation. 

She called the police and asked them to do some discreet work on Mr. Agreste. Roger Raincomprix and his team were more than willing to do the job, but they were working on another criminal and needed to deal with them first.

They did agree to help with Gabriel afterwards, at least. They wouldn’t get the chance, however, until it was all over.


	25. Love & War: Hawkmoth's Finale (part 1)

It all started when Papilio’s spying _ comites _ returned with some decent proof and some very interesting information. 

Not only had they caught Gabriel transforming into the Parisian menace, but they’d found a secret basement in the hidden elevator that led to a garden containing the comatose body of one Emilie Agreste. It all became even clearer to Papilio what Gabriel planned to do with those Miraculouses; he wanted his wife back. 

It was a noble goal, Papilio had to admit, but it didn’t excuse his attacks on Paris.

She called Ladybug & Chat immediately with the info, and _ that _ was when she learned that not only was there another akuma - and a powerful one at that - but Mayura was aiding them.

Andre & Audrey Bourgeois had talked out their issues (both romantic and personal), but the guilt of holding back everything for so long made them easy prey for Hawkmoth, who created the Heart Hunters; Audrey would “inhale the love of Paris” and weaponize it into heart-shaped blasts that came out of Andre’s mouth.

Ladybug had already pulled every hero and ally she had brought in, except for Queen Bee, who she had only forgotten in her haste. She’d also been seen exiting the parlor by a hidden Hawkmoth, who attacked Fu when he got the chance. Fu managed to transform with the Rabbit and escape, but Hawkmoth managed to nab the Miracle Box with the remaining Miraculouses - the Bee, Mouse, Tiger, Ox, Goat, Rooster, Dog, & Pig were in his possession now.

Forming a plan, he rescinded the Heart Hunters’ powers (which with the help of the still-threatening Mayura threw Ladybug and her allies off their game and distracted them from Hawkmoth) and took off for the hotel, where Chloe was waiting for Ladybug. He landed in front of her, promising her the Bee Miraculous’ power and more if she betrayed Ladybug and company.

Papilio was watching, and with another old trick of hers - telekinesis from a decent distance - she opened contact with Chloe.

_ Chloe, I have a plan to get him down and get the Miraculouses back. _

_ What do you want me to do? _Chloe thought back.

_ First… _ Papilio smirked, an unnervingly gleeful grin plastered on her face, _ I want you to take his deal. But… _

* * *

Hawkmoth had gleefully handed the Bee Miraculous to Chloe, who transformed. 

“Miracle Q-” he began, only to be cut off with a cry of “Venom!”

Luckily for him, he dodged the attack and with a swing of his cane-sword, he disarmed Queen Bee. He then grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. 

As the two fought for the Bee Miraculous, a scowling Papilio opened up her communicator and called the team, who had pinned Mayura down. 

“_ Hawkmoth has been spotted with the Miracle Box, and he’s got Queen Bee pinned! _” she snarled, before readying her own weapon in case Queen Bee needed the help.

Hawkmoth eventually yielded the Bee, as Queen Bee had fought well for it. Grabbing the remaining Miraculouses, he leaped away just in time for Ladybug, Pegasus, Carapace, & Rena Rouge (the rest were dealing with Mayura) to arrive. After thanking Queen Bee for doing the right thing (Papilio said nothing about credit this time), the heroes gave chase, Papilio joining them from a vantage point.

Hawkmoth came to a stop at Lila’s house, where she had been watching the battle from her balcony. Papilio took out her communicator - the jewel that served as a laser rifle - and recorded not only Hawkmoth attempting to give Lila the Goat Miraculous but the girl attempting to take it with an evil grin on her face.

Keyword being “attempting” - Ladybug and company intercepted then, and while they recovered the stolen Miraculouses from the two startled villains, Hawkmoth managed to akumatize Lila into Miracle Queen, who was proclaimed to have the ability to make anyone but him and Mayura obey her commands. Miracle Queen didn’t land a hit, however, because a recharged Queen Bee flew up from behind them, used Venom on her before Lila could raise a finger, snatched her akuma-powered necklace and broke it.

Hawkmoth, clearly knowing he couldn’t win, retreated; Mayura, who had been in communication with him, ran as well.

Lila was arrested and placed into juvenile detention for aiding a terrorist, where she’d be staying for a long time, and long-overdue lie-checking was done. Later on, the remainder of the class who was on Lila’s side apologized to Marinette. She forgave them, so long as they were more careful. Needless to say, Mylene, Ivan, & Sabrina (Kim had joined the good guys a small while after becoming King Monkey thanks to Max) wouldn’t be getting Miraculouses like the rest of their classmates anytime soon, whether they knew it or not.

For now, everything would be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I assure you, I'm not skipping Chat Blanc. There's an akuma in the actual episode and not too much time-travel shenanigans, so I intend to do that one.  
Hawkmoth isn't where it ends, either. If you've read the predecessor, you probably know what's coming next.


	26. Mothboy: Hawkmoth's Finale (part 2)

“Nice work, everyone!” Ladybug cheered. She, Chat & Papilio had invited the team & Fu - who was wielding the Goat temporarily - to the rooftops to celebrate a major victory over Hawkmoth.

There was food, drinks and plenty of merriment to go around. _ It was a shame _ , Papilio thought, _ that I have to ruin it for one of us. _

Papilio clinked her glass of water, catching everyone’s attention.

“I wanted to save this for a private time, but it’s too important to hide from everyone else…”

At Ladybug’s nod, Papilio continued. “I had a conversation with a timeline-traveling Miraculous wielder - they used the Rabbit Miraculous - and with her help (plus a little spying with my _ comites _) I think I’ve got Hawkmoth’s identity; even if he somehow isn’t who I think he is, I have some very interesting information nonetheless.”

Using her communicator, Papilio used images magically created from her _ comites _ to show them the pictures of Hawkmoth transforming, as well as the garden with Emilie Agreste’s body. 

Chat looked sick to his stomach at the proof; knowing his identity made it necessary that Papilio prepared for the likely possibility of something bad happening.

When the others directed confused & worried looks towards the Black Cat wielder, Papilio was there first. She slowly placed her hand on Chat’s shoulder, and whispered condolences led to him sobbing into her arms.

At everyone’s confused looks, Papilio explained that she knew that Chat and Gabriel’s son were close, therefore Chat’s pain was a result of his heart going out for Adrien.

Ladybug was suspicious - all the thinking about Adrien & Chat had led her to consider but never ask - so when planning for Hawkmoth’s take-down was finished, the temporary Miraculous wielders (except for Fu, of course) allowed to keep their Miraculouses until Hawkmoth was beaten, she talked with Chat in private.

The two revealed their identities to each other, and both of them were elated - Marinette to be right, and Adrien to find his Lady loved him back.

Neither of them noticed Mayura watching from a distance, a sad smile on her face.

* * *

When Hawkmoth sent out his next akuma, the heroes attacked.

The police had been informed to block off the roads anywhere remotely near Gabriel’s mansion and to wait in hiding just in case he attempted to escape. His exits were blocked.

Hawkmoth had akumatized himself and Mayura through their weapons, and they proved to be quite the match for all 9 heroes _ and _ the two _ comites _ Papilio had sent them. Andre & Audrey had become Rex & Regina; the former with elemental powers and the latter was equipped with other magical forces.

Papilio managed to evacuate the Bourgeois family upon their defeats, but the heroes were worn out - there was no time to find a replacement.

It was time to step up and do something.

* * *

“Hmmm… it’s a shame, Mlle. Marinette,” Hawkmoth condescended as he looked down at the battered Ladybug wielder and her allies. “You could have been something great under my tutelage, but you had to rise against me.”

The sound _ thwok _suddenly rang out, followed by a cry of “Agh!”; whirling around, he saw his ally detransform into Nathalie and collapse, a figure obscured in the shadows standing behind her unconscious body. The Peafowl had been snatched from her hair, so this new entrant must have it.

Hawkmoth’s eyes narrowed, and his smirk turned into a semi-neutral frown. “You must be the other Moth wielder I have heard of.”

“Moth wielder? Nope - that’s you. I’m Papilio the Butterfly wielder, boy, and let me just say I don’t like what you’ve done to my friends here.”

“Your friends attacked me first, you know.”  
“Oh, so they made the akumas? They’re the ones responsible for the terrorist attacks on Paris for the past year and a half? All for what - some dead chick?”

“She is no ‘dead chick,’ you imbecile! She is everything to me! Why do you think I’d go this far?”

From the darkness, Papilio’s eyes narrowed. “So you’re saying all of this was for your beloved Emilie?”

“Of course!” Hawkmoth bellowed.

“A noble motive, I’ll admit…” Papilio looked down sadly.

Her tone grew flippant.

“...but terrorism nonetheless. Come, boy - let’s see who the better lepidopteran anomaly is.”

That last bit caught Hawkmoth off guard. “Anomaly?”

“If you want to know so bad, I’ll inform you should you win.”

“Very well, then. Tell me, however - why do you choose to call me a boy?”

Papilio looked shocked into silence. “You don’t mean to tell me you can do what you’ve done and still think you deserve to be called a _ man _, do you? Come on, now - you ain’t shit but a Nice Guy™ with magic powers he shouldn't have.”

Hawkmoth roared in rage and charged her. Their blades clashed as Hawkmoth reached her, and Papilio somehow managed to roll her eyes through the concentration.

“That’s another notch on your log of mistakes.”  
“How so?”

“Notice how you’re using two hands on your sword to hold me off.”

Slowly, Papilio began to walk forward, pushing Hawkmoth back as she did. Stepping into the light, Papilio revealed she’d been holding her weapon with one hand, proving her to be far stronger than the self-akumatized villain.

Leaning in, Papilio whispered, “You’re lucky I don’t intend to kill you, boy. Your head would be on the floor by now.”

Effortlessly, Papilio knocked Hawkmoth’s sword out of his hands. It flew up and away, landing too far away for him to reach. Taking his shock as an opportunity, she grabbed him by the ugly ascot he wore (_ Fred wore it better _, she snarked to herself) and ripped the Moth pin off. She then dropped Gabriel to the floor unceremoniously. 

Turning to the pile of beaten heroes, she placed both hands on her weapon and focused her energy on it. The purple glow on the jeweled end turned a lighter shade of purple, and she blasted the heroes with an energy ball. Gabriel gasped in horror, knowing Adrien was in that pile. Why would Papilio do this?  
His question was answered when the heroes groggily got off of each other. She hadn’t harmed them - she’d _healed_ them!

Ladybug gave Papilio a peaceful smile, before turning to Gabriel. He got up as fast as he could and ran, only to be snared by her yo-yo and dragged back to the team until the police arrested him and a still-unconscious Nathalie.

The celebration in Paris lasted long into the night, and this time, Papilio played along.

The battle was not yet over; there was more work to be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the last second, I decided not to include Chat Blanc as an akuma. I'd originally been planning to have him successfully resist, but it just happened differently.  
Both the fight and the story are not done; Papilio still has foes to fight.


	27. Interlude 4: What The Butterfly Dragged In

For Ladybug, Chat Noir and the other heroes, it started when Papilio called an emergency meeting at the Guardian’s parlor.

When the group of Ladybug, Chat Noir, Queen Bee, Rena Rouge, Carapace, King Monkey, Pegasus, Viperion, Ryuko, & two new heroes - Princess Piggy & Amurtemis, who were really Rose & Juleka with the Pig & Tiger Miraculouses respectively - rushed in, they were surprised to find Miss Berard and Fu sitting on the mats, the former with a look of extreme panic badly disguised on her face.

Steeling her nerves, Emma explained everything to her allies about the identities. She was Papilio, she’d known who Ladybug & Chat were long before they’d been forcibly revealed to each other after Hawkmoth trounced all of them before being whupped by Papilio (though she hadn’t known about the rest of them due to not thinking about it, and the public only knew the identities of Chloe, Gabriel & Nathalie thanks to Pegasus), and they were now in  _ deep shit _ .

“I promised once Hawkmoth was defeated I would tell y’all my tale, didn’t I?” Emma smiled sadly, “It relates to this new threat; allow me to fulfill my end of the deal.”

“Me and Fu here have been theorizing, and my going theory is that I’m from a parallel universe or dimension or something like that…” she began. Everyone but her and Fu’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

“ _ That’s _ why you had a Miraculous like Hawkmoth’s!” Adrien exclaimed, “You have the parallel equivalent to Hawkmoth’s Miraculous!”

“Precisely. The problem rests in the other Miraculouses of my former home, however. Let us begin.”

“My world is way worse than yours morally. My dad was a well-meaning but neglectful & favouritistic bastard, but my mom was a fantastic and just woman. She was one of the three people I would have died for before meeting all of y’all. I’ll get to the other two later.”

“Anyways, I was chosen by someone who’s probably long-dead when I was a little older than most of y’all - I was 17 going on 18 if I remember right. The villains in my world were Mr. Fortune - wielder of the Beetle - Chaton Grise - the wielder of the Grey Cat - and a third leader of them who I’ll get to in due time.”

“What makes these guys even worse than Hawkmoth & Mayura? Is it the numbers?”

“ _ Hawkmoth never actually killed anyone himself _ .” Emma declared coldly, drawing more gasps from everyone; even Fu looked astonished at this.

“I’m the only person in this world who’s seen what effect Cataclysm has on people. It’s not helping that their weapons were more lethal than that of Bug and Catboy; Mr. Fortune had a spiked flail, and Chaton Grise had a rapier.”

“Anyways, it was a  _ very _ unpleasant ten years of fighting-”

“TEN?!”

“Did you think the school would let a 17-year old teach y’all?”

“It’s still a shock, dude.” Nino countered.

“Fair… yeah, ten years of deaths that I was rarely able to prevent, and for a good chunk, I was in a way ‘responsible’ for…”

“Responsible?” asked Kim, “I’m not the smartest, but I’m pretty sure you didn’t kill them.”

“The ones I once thought I was responsible for were either my Champions or the loved ones of Champions. Mr. Fortune & Chaton Grise did it to turn the city away from me, and they succeeded in doing so; at one point, it was widely perceived that if you got Championed, you probably had a death wish.”

“The people grew angry at me,” Papilio brokenly continued, “for trying to  _ help _ . I don’t fault them-”

“IT WASN’T YOUR FAULT!” roared Alya. 

“YEAH, IT’S YOUR VILLAINS’ FAULT! WHAT, DO YOU BLAME THE AKUMATIZED VICTIMS FOR HAWKMOTH?”

“...thanks, guys. I need to finish this story before I start crying, okay?”

Everyone else nodded.

“I gave the people what they wanted. I stopped protecting my world’s Paris, letting the villains destroy the place. I didn’t sit back and do nothing, though - I started doing behind-the-scenes work, and I tracked their hideout down… to a  _ massage parlor _ .”

Everyone looked at Fu. 

“I think I know why you did not trust me at first…” Fu said sadly, “...there was a mastermind that was my equivalent, wasn’t there?”

“Oh, yes. But before I get there, I should let you know of my other two sanity-saviors. Bridgette Zheng & Felix Gauthier, they were, and they were my best friends… and my boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“You’re poly?” Max exclaimed, astonished. “You said your world was worse in morals!”  
“I didn’t say everyone knew, did I?” A glint appeared in Emma’s eyes for a second, before being re-clouded in sadness.

“Moving on… his name was Aoyùn Sui, as some of you probably inferred. His story sort of reminds me of Gabriel, although it’s far darker. He lost his loved one - Mariana Lacroix, if I recall right - in a magical accident that erased her existence from the world to everyone but him. Not even the Miraculouses’ wish could bring her back…”

“He swore revenge on the Miraculouses for taking his beloved Mariana from him - although he used the Beetle, Grey Cat & Turtle until he could get all of them - and eventually tracked the Butterfly down to my world’s Paris. He corrupted Bridgette & Felix - who are innocent, like the akumatized victims - with dark magic-embedded Miraculouses and sent them out to find and take the Butterfly. I was chosen to become the wielder of said Miraculous and protect my world as the Red Admiral. I changed my alias to Papilio when I met all of y’all.”

“The four wielders - me, Chaton Grise, Mr. Fortune & Tortue Cerveau, as Aoyùn Sui went by - fought. It was a fantastic battle…”

At everyone’s slightly excited looks, Emma looked down. 

“...but I lost.”

Gasps echoed through the massage parlor.

“They took Oroono…” Emma’s kwami, who looked like Nooroo but with a reversed swirl, shuddered, “and kicked me through a portal to a ‘dimension of infinite torture’ or something like that.”

“Thankfully, Oroono escaped them and chased after me. The problem with that is that they left for another world of Miraculouses to destroy theirs as well. The world cannot function without the main 7 Miraculouses in my world - I dunno if it’s the same for y’all - so with 3 Miraculouses - the Hornet, Hyena & Parrot - destroyed and the other 4 - gone, my world is most likely destroyed. Caput. Finished.”

“But how are you here and not in that torture dimension or whatever?” Chloe asked.

“Some spirit calling herself Eilemi saved me, saying she’d help me avenge my fallen world if she helped me with a problem in yours. She never mentioned Hawkmoth explicitly, but… oh, and she sounded sort of guilty, like she was responsible for it all…”

“ _ Wait _ .” Adrien interrupted, his face troubled with thought, “Eilemi… if you’re spelling it how I think you’re spelling it, that’s an anagram for Emilie.” 

“And your point is…?” Emma asked innocently.  
“_That’s my mom’s name_.” Adrien knew Emma had been more focused on Hawkmoth at the time; chances were she’d merely forgotten.

“Shit, you’re right. So you’re saying your momma’s ghost saved me?”

“That sounds like the most likely situation.” Marinette piped up.

“Wow… your momma’s a good woman, Adrien, and I’m sure she misses you. I owe her my life, so if you need anything at all,  _ anything _ , you come to me; I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”

Adrien wiped away the tears before they could come back; he’d buried her officially not too long ago, so the scars were still somewhat freshly reopened.

“Anyways, I fell in this world, where Chloe helped me out. Thanks again, by the way.”

“No problem!” Chloe responded, a genuine smile on her face. Her redemption had skyrocketed in speed after she started dating Marinette & Adrien, and she was quite nice once you got to know her.

“Eilemi used the last of her power to send the villains my way. Her spirit is finally at rest, but our world isn’t safe now that they’ll be coming here about one week from now.” 

“Let us help you, then.” Adrien said, her voice iron-strong.

“I couldn’t, kiddos. They’ll kill you.”  
“You saved us from Hawkmoth, helping us against him and his akumas. It’s our turn to help you now!” 

“You don’t understand. Aoyùn’s power - and the corruption of Bridgette and Felix - is linked to his  _ life force _ ; the Tortoise merely boosts his power. The only way to truly stop him is to stop that life force.”

“Meaning…?” Rose asked naively.

“To stop Aoyùn… we have to  _ kill  _ him. It will stop Mr. Fortune & Chaton Grise and revert them to their true selves, and it will keep him from doing any more evil deeds. We can’t just take his Miraculous, arrest him, and call it a day.”

“Fine.” Chloe said, her voice serious, “You have to do the job, though. I’ll ensure with Daddy that you’re not going to get in trouble for killing him.”

Emma teared up. “You kids and your world… it’s too good for me. I don’t deserve this…”

Everyone but Fu - who had to hold on to his walking stick - embraced the heroine in a hug. At last, Papilio finally let her tears fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go before the epilogue.


	28. A Fool No Longer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All that's left is the epilogue, y'all!

A week passed, and the fateful day arrived. The plans were set.

People were ecstatic to see the silhouettes of “Ladybug & Chat Noir” leaping across buildings once more - there had been a public hiatus to recover from Hawkmoth - but to see the off-colored minions of Tortue Cerveau had people paling, thinking the mysterious old man in the Carapace-esque suit had akumatized them; some ran for the hills, others could only gape in horror & fear.

Thankfully, Ladybug and a whole team of heroes were waiting for them and their Tortoise “friend.” However, while Papilio was waiting in a hidden place nearby like usual, she was not going to make a Champion. Like a hungry lioness watching a zebra, the Butterfly wielder was waiting for the right moment to kill.

She wasn’t motivated by hunger, unlike the lioness. She was fueled by rage, by the desire for justice, for vengeance. Right now, she wanted little more than to save the ones she loved.

Tortue Cerveau kept healing his allies with his dark magic, but he and his brainwashed puppets slowly found themselves backing up towards a wall, unable to fully repel the storm of attacks on all sides from Ladybug, Chat Noir, Queen Bee, Carapace, Rena Rouge, Pegasus, King Monkey, Bunnix, Ryuko, Viperion, Amurtemis & Princess Piggy.

Eventually, Mr. Fortune and Chaton Grise collapsed, unable to take any more attacks. Tortue Cerveau could heal them, but it didn’t work when they were unconscious. It’s like how you can’t use a Potion on a fainted Pokemon, and figuratively speaking, Tortue Cerveau had no Revives and no way to reach a Pokemon Center in time to escape.

Sensing her moment was here, Papilio summoned her wings, dashed from her perch and ran her weapon through Tortue Cerveau so smoothly it tapped the wall behind him.

When Tortue Cerveau could open his eyes again, they widened when he recognized the one who would be his downfall.

“Y-you!”

Papilio had few words for this man - no, this monster - who had taken her old life, her loved ones, her entire world/dimension/universe from her.

“ _ Vale, et ustulā in Tartaro. _ ” she said coolly, her vitriolic voice brimming with rancor.

With that, she yanked her sword back, painfully removing it from Tortue Cerveau, who collapsed, barely alive. That wasn’t good. 

Turning to the horrified audience of fellow superheroes and superheroines, Papilio calmly addressed them, “If any of y’all can’t take this stuff, I advise leaving now.”

To emphasize her point, she flipped her weapon around to the jeweled end that doubled as her laser rifle’s barrel, pointing it at the weak Aoyùn’s head. The jewel started glowing, and Ladybug, Princess Piggy, Queen Bee, & Rena Rouge took off. Chat Noir, Carapace & Amurtemis trailed quickly after, following their girlfriends.

_ BANG! _

When the dust cleared, Aoyùn Sui was a bloody splatter on the wall. You could barely recognize any human details - just how Papilio wanted it.

It was over at last. Papilio was free.


	29. Epiloga

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's all, folks!  
I hope to keep writing these stories for each season from here on out, but it depends on how many akumas are made... nevertheless, I hope you all enjoyed!

Marinette took over Gabriel’s brand when she grew old enough and graduated from university, renaming it  _ Tenshi _ as a jab against its former owner (and eventually her in-law once she, Adrien & Chloe married). She, Chloe, and Adrien were co-named Guardians. It had been a sad farewell when Fu left for China with Marianne, but he had earned his retirement, and if any other villains came up, he promised to give advice if he could. Thankfully, giving up the Guardian role came at little cost other than the passing of responsibility.

Chloe got a job as a model for  _ Tenshi _ ; Adrien, on the other hand, worked as a physics professor. Together with Adrien & Rose, Chloe ran a social justice & charity organization. They worked to cause social change and fight the evils of the world. Child abusers and neglecters were especially not safe from the wrath of  _ Golden Lives _ . 

Juleka also modeled on occasion for Marinette, though she mostly worked as a makeup coordinator for  _ Tenshi _ . 

Alya & Nino were happily married long before Marinette and her rich golden-haired significant others, and they were in the process of adopting their first child - a shy teenage girl named Lina. Nino was in the process of directing a cartoon based on the adventures of Ladybug & Chat Noir, and Alya was in charge of writing episodes with said heroes’ help for accuracy.

Kim proposed to Max recently. The former was a gym teacher at their former college, while Max worked at an important position in a video game company. His Miraculous-themed one from all those years ago was popular with many akuma victims and chosen Champions.

Alix was working with Bunnyx (who turned out to be the alternate timeline’s adult version of her) to help fix timelines and help those who hadn’t dealt with their villains achieve their happy ending. Otherwise, she was a student of history & art at university.

Ivan & Mylene were happily married, and Sabrina was dating someone as well. That’s all that really needed to be said about them.

Luka & Kagami were dating steadily - after Kagami moved out of Emma’s home, the world-class fencer moved in with Jagged Stone’s protege. They were happy as could be.

Speaking of Emma, she worked with Master Fu before his retirement to cure Bridgette & Felix of any lingering corruption and ensure Aoyùn was in the punishment part of the afterlife. His soul was burning for all eternity, meaning Papilio had at last achieved closure and vengeance. Bridgette, Felix & her had started dating once they were back to normal and fully healed, and alongside Chloe, Adrien & Marinette, the push was made to legalize polyamory in not only Paris but the rest of France. Emma had retired from teaching thanks to Chloe, Adrien & Kagami propping her up, and she lived comfortably, helping out with  _ Golden Lives _ whenever it was needed. This meant as both Emma and as Papilio; the business and superheroine had a close relationship, and Papilio took great pleasure whenever she Championed a victim of abuse or some other injustice to help stop it or prevent it from happening again.

The world had gone under intense heat during Hawkmoth, Mayura & Lila’s reign of terror, but instead of melting like chocolate, it hardened and became like that of a sword to be used against its less morally sound inhabitants. 

When Hawkmoth made a catalyst to end the war, he didn’t count on Papilio.


End file.
